


Unspoken

by Lady_in_Red



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Brothers, Canon Compliant, Episode Related, F/M, Ficlet, Gen, Last Day On Earth, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-31 08:40:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18587710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_in_Red/pseuds/Lady_in_Red
Summary: Before the Battle of Winterfell, Tyrion has some advice for his brother.





	Unspoken

Jaime can feel Tyrion’s eyes on him, so his brother’s voice rising behind him is no surprise.

“Are we going to talk about this?”

Jaime doesn’t feign confusion. “Now? I think we have more pressing concerns.” 

Tyrion’s hand grabs Jaime’s sleeve. “Yes, now, before you do something stupid.”

Fine, they’ll have this out now, in a corridor where anyone might walk by, while the rest of the castle prepares for battle. Why not? At least Tyrion’s shorter legs mean that the others are far ahead, out of earshot. Jaime turns, faces his brother. “I’m in a castle where perhaps three people don’t want me dead, fighting an army even though a child could disarm me. What else could I do?”

Tyrion’s brow furrows. “So you’re not planning to play Queensguard to Brienne of Tarth.” 

“No,” Jaime scoffs. “I just knighted her. She doesn't need my protection.” He has no queen. He will never kneel to Daenerys Targaryen, no matter what Tyrion says about her. Her eyes glitter with the same malice as her father’s. The madness may not have her yet, but it’s there, just beneath the surface, waiting. 

“I know you, brother. I see it even if she doesn’t.” Tyrion shakes his head. “Every man around that fire saw it. Even Giantsbane.”

Jaime’s hand clenches at the thought of Tormund Giantsbane, the way his eyes crawl all over Brienne with undisguised lust. Jaime wants to knock out the wildling’s teeth with his golden hand every time he dares to look at her. The only thing stopping him is the disgust Brienne can’t quite hide. “What do you see?” 

“That you’d give your life for hers without a single thought.” There’s an edge to Tyrion’s words. 

“I would.” He would kill for her, too. 

Tyrion sighs heavily, scratched at his heavy beard. “She may be the better fighter now—”

“She is."

“But you are the better strategist. You have more battle experience than half the men in that war council, and you will make the hard choices Lady Brienne never will.” Tyrion’s expression hardens. “We stand a better chance of surviving, however slim it may be, with you alive.”

Jaime only grunts in assent. He poisoned Olenna Tyrell’s wine. He threatened to kill Edmure Tully’s newborn son. He crushed his own cousin’s skull with a rock. He shoved a boy from a tower. He killed the king he was sworn to protect. And he regrets none of it.  

Tyrion hesitates a moment. “And, if by some miracle we are to take the Iron Throne, we will need you, if you can stomach it. You know King’s Landing, and Cersei, better than anyone.”

A group of Northerners, women and children bound for the crypt, push past them. The children’s eyes are wide with fear, the women’s gazes filled with loathing. The North remembers.

When they’ve passed out of sight, Jaime turns back to his brother. “Daenerys will have to make due with you. You saw her in that sham of a trial. If I survive the night, she will execute me the first chance she gets.” She is intelligent, and ruthless, and she was fed hatred of him from the cradle. If her mother had survived, things might have been different. 

Tyrion starts to protest, and stops. “Watch your back out there.” He touches the long scar slashed into his face. “She may not wait until after the battle.”

Jaime nods grimly. He’s thought of that, too. “We need to go.” He starts down the passage again.

Tyrion reluctantly follows, muttering about being trapped with crying children and fretting women. Knowing him, he will stick close to Lord Varys, who has a knack for surviving when others are not so fortunate.  

The castle comes alive as they approach the courtyard, the hum of voices and clatter of arms and armor growing as they near the doorway. Just before they walk out into the cold, Tyrion stops again. 

Even in the bustling crowds and the dark night, Jaime’s eyes are drawn to her. She stands tall in the middle of the courtyard, her pale hair glowing in the moonlight, directing men and supplies where they’re needed. 

“Your lady knight,” Tyrion says without looking away from her. “You should tell her.”

Jaime sighs. “It’s complicated.” More than Tyrion could ever know.  


“Perhaps. Tell her anyway,” Tyrion counters.

“I wouldn’t know what to say.” 

Tyrion shakes his head, awkwardly pats Jaime’s arm. “I love you, brother. Try not to die.”

Without waiting for a response, Tyrion strides off into the courtyard, carts and men weaving around him. He turns back after a dozen paces and grins. “See, was that so difficult?” 

Jaime laughs as his brother waves at him one last time and heads for the crypts. 

Brienne is watching them, watching him, her brow furrowed, lips pursed. 

“My lady,” Jaime says easily, striding over to her. A mindless courtesy he’s uttered thousands of times in his life, but it feels different when he says it to her. “Or should I call you ‘ser’ now?”

A smile flickers briefly across her face, and it warms him through. To think he never saw that smile before tonight. “I sent Pod to the forge,” she says brusquely. “We need more spears.”

“What can I do?” He’s no good for carrying spears. In fact, the golden hand seems to soak up the cold and numb his arm, but he can hit with it. It won’t do much but stun the dead. 

“We have men from the Vale, the Stormlands, and the North. They’re squabbling like children. Get them out beyond the wall and into formation.” 

“As you wish,” he says easily. Jaime has sent hundreds of men to their deaths. Thousands. This night will be no different. 

She catches his eye, distracted from her task for a moment. She still looks surprised that he’s here, that he’s on her side. Brienne wouldn’t welcome the declaration Tyrion thinks Jaime should make. Not now. She distrusts his courtesy, thought his offer to knight her was a jest until he repeated it. She wouldn’t believe that he loves her.

What that means beyond tonight, Jaime may never know. The horn sounds again, three blasts. Time is short. He turns away before she does, moving swiftly to obey her command. He will fight at her side as long as he can. That will be enough. 


End file.
